Petrostates

It has been long observed that having a sizeable extraction sector can have a very negative impact on a country’s economic growth. For example, following the discovery of GroningenGroningen, a vast natural gas field in Holland, the industrial sector of the country substantially declined. This ‘Dutch diseaseDutch disease’ or ‘resource curseresource curse’ can weigh on the performance of all the non-resource sectors of the economy.